Shivers on Sunday: Rain, hail make for Delhi's coldest day this season

Sunday, the coldest day of the season so far, saw overcast conditions with strong winds adding to the chill. Spells of rainfall and hail also lashed the city throughout the day with the Safdarjung station recording 4mm of rainfall.

The Capital shivered on Sunday, as the day temperature plummeted to 16 degrees, a chilling seven degrees below normal.

The minimum temperature, in complete contrast, was recorded at 14.2 degrees Celsius, six degrees above normal.

Sunday, the coldest day of the season so far, saw overcast conditions with strong winds adding to the chill. Spells of rainfall and hail also lashed the city throughout the day with the Safdarjung station recording 4mm of rainfall.

According to the weathermen, the temperatures will be recorded in the similar range on Monday, with light rain expected in the morning.

On Sunday, the difference between the maximum and minimum temperature was only 1.8 degrees.

“A thick cloud cover on Saturday night and Sunday morning ensured that the heat was trapped and the temperatures did not go down. The day temperatures did not rise, as the cloud cover blocked the sunlight with spells of rain cooling the city further,” said a senior Met official.

Delhiites, who till last week were wondering where the winter chill was, piled on their woolen clothes and sipped on hot drinks to keep themselves warm on Sunday.

The drop in temperature and the rain is a result of a western disturbance that brought snow to Himachal Pradesh and the higher reaches of Uttarakhand.

“The temperatures have dropped in the entire Indo-Gangetic plains area. This drop in temperature had been forecasted last week and we were expecting this,” the official added.

While the rain is expected to stop after Monday, fog is expected to make an appearance this week itself.

“As of now, the conditions seem favourable for fog formation on Monday night and Tuesday morning. On Sunday, humidity was nearly 100% throughout the day, but strong winds did not aid fog formation,” said RK Jenamani, director in charge, IGI Met Centre.

With heavy moisture coming in from the Indo-Gangetic plains and the night temperature expected to fall in the coming week, dense fog cover situations in the coming weeks cannot be ruled out.